Five's anxieties
by Fiction of fan
Summary: Fluff with Five's anxieties post-apocolypse, and after blowout fight with Luther. Diego comforts him. All siblings fluff. :) my spelling and grammar isn't amazing, ignore errors :)
1. Chapter 1

Fuming wasn't a strong enough word to describe the murderous rage Diego felt at the loss of his knives. Whoever took them was going to pay. big. time.

"LUTHER." Diego yells, bursting into his giant brother's room. Luther sat sulking on his bed in a pouty defiance. See, Five and Luther had gotten in a blow-out fight before about Five writing on his walls. Harsh words were exchanged on both ends, but Luther went a little too far. He just goes into a blind rage when Five riles him up with his outright insubordination like that.

"What." Luther grumbles, not bothering to even look at his angry brother.

"Where the flying fuck are my knives. I am so sick and tired of everyone stealing my shit. We are not four anymore. Sharing isn't caring, so stop stealing my stuff." Diego retorts.

"Didn't touch your precious knives. Go ask five because obviously the rules don't apply to him." Luther shoots back.

"Fine, I will." Diego shouts, slamming the door behind him. Stomping across the hall to Five's closed door, he gives the door one hard rap before bursting in.

"Five, I swear to god if you took my knives, Im going to take a life and its going to be yours-" Diego cuts his tyrant off abruptly when he sees the state of his younger/older brother. The thirteen-year-old had his head-buried in his dark pillow case, as he sobbed so much into it that his pillow was tear-stained. Five was wearing a boyish pajama shirt and plain white socks, which strangely juxtaposed his usual outfit. He may have been an old man living in a child's body, bur Five's pitifully quiet sobs made Diego's big brother instincts flood his conscious.

"Oh buddy, what's wrong?" Diego whispers softly. Before he could talk himself out of it, Diego sat next to him in bed, and stroked the back of his silky raven-colored hair. Five may have been a stubborn, pompous ass sometimes, but in this moment he was just a boy who wanted his big brother.

Five turns his head and nuzzles his nose into the side of Diegos's thigh, right above his knee.

"Five, what's wrong? You can talk to me." The knife-wielding sibling practically coos.

"He- he just doesn't understand. I- I— I can't stop. I'm-I'm so scared of seeing you guys die again if I-I don't check the math. Im so scared it'll- it'll happen again." Five manages after a few minutes of Diego's coaxing. Diego frowns thinking of how hard seeing all of his siblings bodies must have been on Five. And then Five lived all those years alone, sans Delores, carrying the grief of knowing everyone he ever loved is dead and he couldn't change it.

"Oh Five." Diego breathes a sigh as he shifts downward so he can lean Five's trembling body against his worried one. Cuddling the boy against his chest, he feels immense love swell in his chest when Five hugs him tight, and buries himself in Diego's chest.

"Ive been having so- so many nightmares I can- can barely sleep." Five admits through a sniffle, he turns his tear-filled green orbs up to look at his brother in earnest.

Then suddenly, "Hey, why's it silent in here, you better not have killed Five... wait is he crying... EVERYONE GET IN HERE, FIVE IS CRYING." Klaus yells after popping into the room. Whatever progress Diego had made in calming Five down was instantly erased as the footsteps of each of the siblings trickled into the room.

"Awww Five." Vanya coos.

"Five its okay, don't cry." Allison says instantly, she kneels down next to her younger brother's bed and strokes his cheek. Five doesn't seem to resist, but he only sobs harder, wracking Diego's body and his own with sobs.

"What the fuck did you say to him?" Klaus demands, hands on hips as soon as two ginormous boots clunk into Five's childhood bedroom.

Luther looks at his little brother with guilt gracing his giant features. "We were just fighting I didn't think he'd turn around and cry about it." Luther says with a shrug.

"Don't flatter yourself, it's not just you." Diego practically spits. Then, he turns his attention back to Five and does another thing out of instinct. Gently, he stokes the tip of his fingernails up and down Five's back, the way their Mom used to do when one of the siblings was sick, or couldn't sleep. Mom would rub their stomach's that way when they were sick too, but Five said it tickled so she never did it to him. Diego figured it was best to steer-clear of possibly upsetting him further.

"Five look." Luther says blowing air frustratedly and shoving his hands in his black pants pockets, "I never meant to hurt you. Im sorry we fought and I love you, but you can't just disrespect my authority like that-"

Diego cuts him off with a hiss, "Can't you see through that big head of yours? He only writes those equations 24/7 on everything because he is petrified of the apocalypse happening again. He's been running himself into the ground because he is scared of loosing US again. He found all of our dead bodies at age thirteen. I can't even imagine living with the pain of all of you die-ing, but Five continued on for decades."

"Five," Luther starts as he puts a hand on his crying brother's back, "Im sorry."

Five jerks violently and squirms to get Luther's hand off his back. Luther wears a crest-fallen expression.

"Are you really afraid of me buddy?" Luther asks in earnest. Five wiggles out of Diego's hold and turns to meet Luther's gaze.

"Go. Away." He shouts, emotion dripping into his angry shout. Five lays back on top of the blanket, and buries his head in the pillow again.

"Great! Back to square one. Do me a favor and stay away from him." Diego practically growls at his older brother. Luther backs up toward the doorframe where his sisters and Klaus stood.

Allison knelt down next to five again and massaged his scalp with her long purple finger nails while whispering sweet nothings to him. Diego just resumed rubbing his back in circles with a warm expression on his face.

After a few minutes Five's breathing almost had return to normal and his body wasn't shaking quite as much.

Five turned his head to face Diego and smiled warmly. The two may fight like ex-assassins and knife-weilders, but they loved like brothers above all.

"Well enough of this sad-sad, droopy Five, where's my smiley little brother?" Klaus asks in a juvenile tone, as he moves to stand by Five's legs. Five may have been stoic and broody, but Klaus had a talent for eliciting smirks from Five.

"I don't know if he was ever smiley per say." Vanya says with a warm smile as she moves closer to Five as well.

"Hmmm, I know how to make Fivey smile." Klaus says with a smirk. Five gives Diego a puzzled look.

Klaus takes an index finger and drags it across the soul of Five's white sock. Five curls up like an armadillo instantly and hugs his knees to his chest

"Klaus." Five squeaks. Five was always the most deathly ticklish of the seven siblings, and he hated when they all used this to their advantage. Klaus always knew just how to piss Five off with it too.

"Ooo, good idea brother." Allison says with a smirk, as she draws one finger across the crook of Five's neck. Five scrunched his shoulders up to his ears, and moves closer to Diego.

Klaus pokes Five's ribs with a huge grin, as Allison succeeds in scribbling her nails on his knees. Five leans his back against Diego's chest for protection as Vanya's fingers wiggles menacingly.

"Diego help." Five giggles. Diego wraps his muscular arms around the skinny time-traveler.

"Now why would I do that." Diego whispers mischievously into his brother's ear.

Five's eyes go wide as he realizes how screwed his is. "Diego please don't. You love me right?" Five begs.

"Of course I love you, but also I wanna hear you laugh. And it was probably you who took my knives anyways." Diego retorts before digging into Five's upper body. Five screams in laughter.

"No Diegooooooo- stahppppp." Five begs.

"Stop what?" Diego asks, knowing its trap question.

Five fell for that too many times as a kid, "Ahhh fuckkkkk." Five says through els of laughter as his other siblings all join in."

"Sorry Five." Vanya apologizes as she helps her siblings pin him down to the bed. Five tries so hard to teleport, but he's too overstimulated to so.

"Noooo." Five whines, as they all wreck him.

"I think he needs a breather." Luther interrupts the playful torture of number Five with a smirk. Klaus lifts up Five's shirt, and everyone takes their hands off of Five.

Five's breathing turns panicked as he realizes what Klaus is insinuating.

"No, no, no." Five pleads as he wrenches his eyes closed.

"Sorry Five." Luther smiles, as he leans down and gives Five a rasberry.

Five explodes in shrieking laughter as he manages to free a fist and curl it in Luther's hair.

"HAHAHAHHAHAH, NO MORE. LUTHER NO." Five screams through laughter. Luther stops, and strokes Five's hair lovingly. He had made him cry for the sond time today, but Luther much preferred this kind of crying. Luther tentatively wipes away his tears win his giant thumb.

"Im sorry and I love you." Luther says softly

"I love you too, you big dummy." Five says with a genuine smile as he hugs Luther.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2- probably the last one unless i get more requests. review!

The knife was fierce, formidable, deadly, fearless... and also could frequently be found cuddling on the couch with a teenager watching a cheesy comedy most nights...

**Diego's POV; (au where hes a cop)**

During the day I'm just like any other plain old bad ass. I work, I patrol, I arrest, I establish justice, I use a knife every now and then on a dartboard. But in general, I'm just like any other self respecting grown-ass man.

Except lately, I can't be when I get home. Ever since last week when my little brother Five had his breakdown, he's been clinging to me like glue. He finally opened up about his horrible night terrors and extreme anxiety that hold a fierce grip on his entire life. For some odd reason I'm the only sibling he's latched onto like this.

It's not that we weren't friends as kids or before this, but Five has never been this close with me. He has allowed a certain vulnerability into his bright, watery, eyes that makes it hard for me to turn him away for anything. Gone are the days where he constantly felt the need to remind us every four seconds of his mass-murderer-status. Five traded in his academy uniform for simple black t-shirts and dark grey sweatshirts.

Vanya and I have come to the conclusion that Five isn't really a 58 year old as much as he is just a 13 year old for the 45th year. Its awfully confusing to wrap your heads around, but in the grand scheme of things its pretty normal for the Hargreaves family.

Suddenly, I'm ejected from my thought bubble from my place pondering on the couch by the soft _trudge trudge_ of two feet descending the staircase.

Five appears in the living room dressed in a simple pajama set and polka dot socks. Allison went a tadddd overboard buying Five clothes once he finally relented to ditching the old academy uniform for other teenager-y clothes.

"Hey buddy." I call from my place on the far left end of the couch, "What's tonights pick? Horror or comedy?" I ask, patting the spot on the couch next to me. Five smiles weakly, his hair still damp from the shower he just took.

"I heard Hush is on Netflix." Five suggests, making his choice in genre clear as he walks over to me. Five has been less keen on zapping everywhere lately, which honestly is a relief to know that he isn't just going to zap out of a conversation as soon as he gets bored. Five claims he's resting his powers, but he hasn't left the house in weeks, so what's the point in teleporting?

"Sounds good to me." I lie, secretly hoping Five would go with that new Adam Sandler Movie, Blended. (**AU- ignore the timeline with new and blended :) )**

This had become our nightly routine. The family would eat dinner together. Everyone would go their separate ways like usual. Then, Five would shower and get ready for bed. Once he is ready, he makes his way downstairs and we watch movies together. The easiest nights are the ones where he falls asleep to Adam Sandler getting the girl. That means I can just carry him to bed, and there is no anxiety in getting him to sleep.

The nights he doesn't are filled with tears and shaking and md spending lots of time kneeling at his bedside, coaxing my smallest sibling into sleeping. Then there were the screaming, crying, shaking night terrors that would wake everyone up in the house. The kind where we all had trouble waking Five up because he was so deep into the nightmare that he was hyperventilating and sleeping simultaneously.

Five slips next to my side on the couch and nuzzles his head into my shoulder. Lately, he reminds me of a cat. Full of snuggles, and yawns, and naps in the sun. Five had always been jumpy with physical contact, but I am slowly getting him used to accepting affection from others. Everyday was another hair ruffle, or hug, or shoulder squeeze. My ultimate goal is to be able to get him to accept a surprise hug from one of the siblings without flinching.

"And how was your day?" I asks softly, gently carding my fingers through his still-wet hair. I turn on the movie with a few clicks of the black remote, and thank whatever backwards ass god there is that I turned the lights off before, so I don't have to get up now.

Five shrugs non-commitally and focuses on the opening titles for Hush. His bright eyes look so sad as he stares off. Luther thinks he should see an actual physiologist about his possible PTSD and anxiety. What physiologist is trained in the field of time-travelers? Besides, he's my brother. I don't want to pawn him off on some stranger like a used bicycle. A little nightmares every now and then are nothing I can't handle.

"Hmm, how come?" I coax, trying to get him to open up a little more.

"Its just another day." Five responds, sounding less annoyed by my question and more annoyed by the reason behind his answer, if anything.

"Well suns gotta set at some point Five." I point out, moving my finger tips to lightly scratch at the one spot behind his ears that he leans into the touch, instead of flinching away.

Five practically purrs and cuddles closer into my side. I smirk at that, he's just like a cat. Albeit, a moody, possibly-alcholic, genius cat, but a cat none-the-less.

Luther teases me for "going soft". He said a grown ass man shouldn't be reading bedtime stories, cuddling , and having tickle fights. For the record, I don't read Five bedtime stories. We watch pg-13 and sometimes R, horror and comedy movies before bedtime. Theres a difference. Second, its not my fault Five still flinches every time Luther tries to hug him. He takes the least time to understand Five, and Five understands but he doesn't trust Luther as much as he trusts Vanya and I. And thirdly, who doesn't have tickle fights with Five? Luther does. Its literally the only way to get him to laugh or smile on his especially somber days (besides Luther injuring himself, resulting in Klaus wacking Luther with something every now and again to hear Five's music-like giggle).

We settle into watching the movie, and fall into a silent pattern. I didn't expect an ordinary villain to be so sick and twisted, but white mask guys certainly takes the cake.

Then something odd happens. Its Maddie's lipstick. Something about that hue of red reminds me exactly of Eudora's. I can feel my breath hitch for a second. Fuck.

I don't even realize that Ive tightened my grip around Five so tight to keep my emotions in check, that knuckles are as white as snow. Five doesn't complain but he squirms slightly in my accidental-death-grip.

"Oops sorry." I apologize quickly and loosen my grip on poor Five. I swipe the tear from my eyes, and revert my attention to the guy as he takes off the mask to reveal an ordinary guy. I make a note to double check that the doors are locked tonight. Normal people are crazy.

He tilts his head up at me and stares at me in earnest with those soulful eyes that had seen it all.

"What's wrong?" He asks curiously.

"Nothing." I answer. Five rolls his eyes at that, not breaking eye contact with mr.

"Your forgetting I invented the _nothing_ excuse. Try harder." Five presses.

"Your a pain in my ass, you know that?" I respond with a smirk.

"You spend too much of your time and energy focused on my stupid problems. Let me help you with yours for once." Five insists.

"Five, your problems are anything but stupid." I retort.

"Diego, your avoidingggg." Five sings in his sings voice.

"Fine." I grumble, "Something reminded me of Patch."

Five's already fragile eyes seems to melt at that as he hugs me tighter and wraps both arms around me, nuzzling his head into my shoulder.

"She was a special lady. She's lucky to have someone like you to remember her by. Don't bottle it up. And don't spend your whole life loving at a distance because your too afraid to loose love. That's what I did with you guys, and look where it got me. Im the poster 58year old child for a 13 year old whose put together." Five quips. I can't help but laugh at that.

"Shut up you." I laugh. We settle back into the silence and Five eventually falls asleep tucked into my shoulder. I finish the movie with short stack tucked peacefully under my arm. And so what if Luther would qualify this as cuddling?

I'm just like any other plain old bad ass. I work, I patrol, I arrest, I establish justice, I use a knife every now and then on a dartboard. But in general, I'm just like any other self respecting grown-ass man. So, so what I carry a thirteen-year-old to bed and tuck him in? Its still bad ass to love.

xoxo done :))


End file.
